Hacker News Reader

> REAL ID is a federal law, not an actual piece of ID. Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005. The act established minimum security standards for state-issued driver licenses and ID cards.

https://www.dol.wa.gov/about/real-id-overview.html

REAL ID doesn't sound like a federal ID system, it's just security standards for state issued ID cards.

View on HN

If states are complying to federal standards for ID, then it is effectively a federal ID.

But they aren't issued or backed by the federal government. There isn't a national database for it, each state still has it's own system

There is a national database. It is called SPEXS.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com